UNITED KINGDOM – Pakistani Christian left hospitalised after attack by Muslims

A Pakistani Christian from Derby was beaten up on the evening of 20 October, for displaying a cross and Remembrance Day poppies in his car, he said. Tajamal Amar described his attackers as Pakistani Muslim men and explained, “I am not a brother [to them]. I am a kaffir [a derogatory term for non-Muslim]. They left me for dead. They hit me as if they were playing on a football pitch … I am Christian. Because of the poppies on my car, because of the cross in my car, I have been hit.”

The 46-year-old dad and food delivery driver suffered internal bleeding, extensive bruising and a broken nose that left him hospitalised. Tajamal told journalists it was not the first time he has been targeted. "Several times, local [Muslim] Pakistani people in Derby have taken offence from the fact that I am Christian. When they first find out, many stop talking to me. My wife and I have often been shunned. I fled from Pakistan to escape violence such as this, but more and more the same violence is coming into Britain. Freedom of religion should be the right of any British citizen but today I feel unsafe, even then nothing will stop me going to church.”

More than 50 Islamists attacked the church of Anba Moussa (St. Moses) building in Ezbet al-Qeshri, Minya, 250km south of Cairo, on 22 October. The village is home to 1000 Christians.

The mob stormed to the church from the local mosque, chanting: “No matter what, we’ll bring the church down,” and “Islamic! Islamic!” Although unsuccessful trying to break into the building, they managed to set the main gate on fire and damaged security cameras before the police arrived to restore order. The first floor of the building houses a pre-school nursery serving 38 toddlers. The mob also attacked Christian-owned homes and vehicles with rocks, injuring three Christians.

Police have closed down the church. None of the perpetrators have been caught.

Authorities closed three other churches in Upper Egypt on 22 October due to fear of Islamist violence: two in Minya and one in al-Hager, Sohag, 460 km south of Cairo.

Minya has witnessed many anti-Christian attacks and closing down of churches. By August 2017, authorities had closed more than 16 churches, citing “security concerns.”

Two Christian leaders, Dumdaw Nawng Lat, 67, and Langjaw Gam Seng, 35, were imprisoned for a combined six and a half years for “exposing the military’s crimes.” The Lashio District Court, in the northern Shan State, passed the sentence on 27 October 2017.

The two leaders assisted visiting journalists reporting on damage caused by military airstrikes to a church and other civilian structures in Muse, northern Shan State, in late 2016. Consequently, the military arrested them on 24 December 2016. Signed confessions that they supported the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) – which their lawyers claim were signed under extreme duress – were the only evidence used to convict them.

“The outrageous prosecution of the two religious leaders for reporting on abuses shows the need for international inquiries in Myanmar,” a spokesperson for Fortify Rights said.

Ethnic Burman identity is closely linked to Buddhism in this 87% Buddhist nation. Christianity is portrayed as a foreign religion, although it has been present since the late 1700s. The mainly Christian Kachin people suffer great persecution, including desecration of their churches, sexual violence, and forced conversions.

TURKEY – Erdogan cleric sees a future single Muslim state where non-Muslims will pay jizya

A leading Turkish Islamic cleric with close ties to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has claimed that one day there will be a single Muslim state in which non-Muslims will be permitted to live if they pay “a simple tax.”

Writing in the Turkish newspaper GazeteOku on 22 October, Hayrettin Karaman stated, “When the conditions are available, there will be a single [Muslim] state … if non-Muslims accept it, they become citizens of this state and pay basic taxes and pay a simple tax.”

Until the late nineteenth century, non-Muslims living in the Ottoman Empire were forced to pay jizya, a tax paid by non-Muslims to an Islamic government as a sign of subjugation, according to classical Islam.

Karamin is an Islamic theologian who has issued religious rulings for on behalf of President Erdoğan.